Oregon and Pennsylvania Are Latest to Reject DOJ Demand for Voter Data
Oregon and Pennsylvania are the latest to reject the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) effort to acquire states’ private voter data, according to letters obtained by Democracy Docket.
In the letters sent to DOJ this week, both states denied the department’s latest demands for private voter data — including statewide voter rolls containing voters’ driver’s license and social security numbers — citing privacy concerns.
Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt (R) called DOJ’s effort “concerning.”
“Your letter dated August 14 specifically asked for detailed personal and confidential information, including driver’s license numbers and social security numbers, for all Pennsylvania voters,” Schmidt wrote in his reply to DOJ on Thursday. “This request, and reported efforts to collect broad data on millions of Americans, represent a concerning attempt to expand the federal government’s role in our country’s electoral process.”
Over the past few weeks, DOJ has escalated its effort to pressure states on the issue, including by threatening legal action. It isn’t yet clear what DOJ plans to do with the data, but it appears intended to boost the Trump administration’s hunt for illegal voting in order to justify tightening voting rules.
The latest round of letters — sent to California, Illinois and Maine, along with Pennsylvania and Oregon — were sent by Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and demanded full access to the states’ voter registration list, including all the private information of every individual voter.
Dhillon threatened California with legal action if it did not provide DOJ with full access to its voter registration list within seven days. In her letters to other states, Dhillon noted that the department is empowered by federal law to “bring enforcement actions” to ensure that states are maintaining accurate rolls.
In their letters rebuking DOJ, Schmidt and Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read (D) both questioned the department’s legal authority to make such a demand.
“Because your letters do not provide any legal justification for the Department to disregard this sacred obligation, we are unable to share such confidential information with you,” Schmidt wrote.
“No federal law compels the production of state voter rolls,” Read wrote. “The Attorney General’s right to bring enforcement actions under the [National Voter Registration Act] and Help America Vote Act] does not create a corollary right to the personal data of Oregonians.”
It’s the second letter that Read sent to DOJ rejecting the department’s demand to hand over the state’s private voter data. Earlier this month, Read rejected a request for a meeting with two prosecutors from DOJ’s criminal division to discuss a potential information-sharing agreement, citing concerns of unlawful use.
“I have no interest in sharing data with an administration that is willfully violating judicial orders and trampling on constitutional rights and responsibilities,” Read wrote in that response.
Oregon and Pennsylvania are not the only states to refuse to comply with DOJ’s latest escalation.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D), who rejected the DOJ’s initial request last month, telling federal officials they could “go jump in the Gulf of Maine,” this week sent another letter to the department rejecting their demand.
“I will do everything in my power to continue to protect sensitive, personal voter data of Maine citizens,” Bellows recently told Democracy Docket in a statement. “The U.S. Constitution entrusts the states, not the federal government and certainly not the President, with responsibility for administering elections. The Trump DOJ needs to respect the Constitution and rule of law.”